Many Linux users, including myself, are quite desperate to get people to switch to Linux, or at least use more open-source software.

Nothing wrong with that. The problem comes in when Linux users say the wrong things in an attempt to convert other users to Linux. The latest example of such a mistake is the tale of Abbie Schubert, a Wisconsin woman that dropped out of college due to troubles with Ubuntu. From the article, Woman blames Dell for missing online classes, describing this:

Schubert says she never heard of Ubuntu until learning that she accidentally bought it.  She called Dell the very next day and says the representative told her there was still time to change back to Windows.

But she says Dell discouraged her.

“The person I was talking to said Ubuntu was great, college students loved it, it was compatible with everything I needed,” said Schubert.

So she stuck with it.

Later, she discovered Ubuntu might look like Windows, but it doesn’t always act like it.

Her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD won’t load, so she can’t access the internet.  She also can’t install Microsoft Word, which she says is a requirement for MATC’s online classes.

This story is similar to so many other stories as it fits this general framework:

1. Average computer user gets a Linux computer, expecting a Windows one.
2. Average computer user is told that “Linux is just like Windows” (or some variation of the phrase). In the example story, the representative, by saying that “[Ubuntu] was compatible with everything [Schubert] needed,” implied that tasks could be completed on Ubuntu in the same manner as the task would be completed on Windows
3. Average computer user gives Linux a chance, and is disappointed because something went wrong.
4. Average computer user now does not trust Linux.

In this cycle, the second step is what really damages the reputation of Linux. Rather than saying “Linux is just like Windows,” what should be said is, “Linux can do everything Windows can, but a little differently. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll save time and money. Let me help you get started.”

Note: If you happen to be interested, read the followup article about Ubuntu, from the news organization that wrote the above article

Sometimes,  I feel that Linux is so very close to making it on the desktop. Sometimes that I feel that there are only few barriers to populating the world with a massive amount of cheap, secure computers running Linux and other open source software. Though, the few barriers that are left are considerably challenging. The barrier that will be discussed in this post, as obvious from the title, is the side of the Linux community that is cold and unfriendly to new Linux users.

It is absolutely necessary to tone this side of the Linux community down. Users new to Linux feel like that they are in an alien world in which it is dangerous to navigate, and fearing getting flamed from angry Linux users is simply just going to drive them back towards Windows. How can the angry Linux users be soothed?

The traditional method is to lightly discourage such angry behavior, and that is close to my solution. What I am planning is nearly waging war against the extreme side of the Linux community and use anti-spam methods, such as IP banning and filtering, to handle angry users of forums, IRC channels, and other online places where Linux newbies seek help. There are already a few places that do this, but the problem is that there are only a few places that apply this type of policy regarding hostile Linux users.

Critics of GNU/Linux often state that the Linux community (including the communities of distros, desktop environments, various applications etc.) can’t seem to pull themselves into a single entity. Personally, I think that it is time that the friendly majority of the Linux community should disprove these critics and band together to silence the extreme side of the Linux community.

Note: This post has been updated in several places. Those updates are denoted by starting with “UPDATE”. Some smaller updates are not denoted in this manner.

This is a tale of my own mistake; because this is the sort of tale that I have plenty of lying around, and because I think that people enjoy laughing at me.

So, anyway, I was experimenting with the KDE 4.2 beta, and checking out how Amarok music player was going. Before, I have hated the new Amarok. The user interface, a departure from what Amarok used to be, seemed unnatural to me. Besides, I couldn’t figure out how to get the darn piece of software to play music anyway. “Amarok Nightly, and the entire 2.x series of Amarok for that matter, was useless to me, and I would never adopt it,” I told myself. “Dumb, buggy Amarok betas are not worth my time. I should just use Exaile.”

I hate being wrong.

It turns out that the reason that Amarok 2 didn’t play my music was because I did not install the MP3¹ support².

After finding that the music now worked in Amarok2, the user interface magically seemed to make more sense, as if the disappeared frustration allowed me to see the good parts of the new Amarok. “Amarok 2 is certainly more pleasing than Amarok 1!” I told myself now.

Click post to view image in full-size.

By the way, I encourage you to check out KDE 4.2 betas, they work amazingly well³.

The lesson I learned? Never lose faith in KDE developers; they always pull through for you. UPDATE: A more relevant lesson to learn would be that one should check if the problem is i the chair before blaming the code.

¹As an open source enthusiast, it would make sense for me to have my music in OGG Vorbis format, but I gave up on that when I discovered that while using Rockbox enables me to play OGG Vorbis files, I still couldn’t play the OGG Vorbis files on unconfigured Windows and Mac installs.

²I had installed the MP3 support by playing the MP3 file in Amarok 1.4, and then clicking the dialog that will autoinstall the MP3 support. UPDATE: I used the Amarok 1.4 MP3 codec installer because I had already assumed that I had the correct files.

³How well the KDE 4.2 nightlies work for you may depend on your hardware and when exactly you try the betas out.

Few people realize the full potential of a USB flash drive. Not only can you take your files on the go with you, but you can do so much more. Here are a few examples I find just too useful:

Portable Linux – Many Linux distributions can be run entirely from flash drives. Perhaps one of the most common examples is Ubuntu, which has several different applications available for LiveUSB use. Other popular distros, including Fedora, Knoppix, Gentoo, and Debian also can be used on a USB flash drive pretty easily. And, of course, the best part might be the fact that you can run the entire Operating System solely from your thumb drive. Or, for those who want to prolong their flash drive’s life, only the home directory can be modified.

Your Favorite Applications on the Go – For many people it can be frustrating not being able to take your favorite applications to school, work, the library, or your mother-in-law’s house. This can easily be done with a USB thumb drive. In fact, some very prominent applications and not-so-popular applications have unofficial and official builds ready to be used on a thumb drive.

Easy Backups – Flash drives can be an incredibly easy way to backup the most critical files quickly. Though there are obviously faster and better methods, this can also usually be used most anywhere, be overwritten when the backup is old, and is rather cheap compared to a whole new hard drive.

Full Control – Perhaps the best use is the ability to have a web server right in your pocket, or a powerful programming language like Python. Since these many times aren’t available to you elsewhere, with a USB flash drive they will be.

So, what uses do you have for flash drives?

I personally am not a huge fan of Windows, as I feel it has its fair share of problems. Though, what OS doesn’t? Mac, Linux, and Windows, they all have their problems. However, Windows is made by Microsoft, a huge company capable of doing great things (though you probably already knew that). So, it certainly can improve much quicker than other operating systems who don’t have quite so much available funding. Thats why I think its fair to have a million Windows 7 wish lists out there; We all know what we want, and we also know that there is some possibility of it actually happening with Microsoft behind the wheel. Many of my ideas aren’t all that new, some I think are. So, without further adieu, here it is:

A Built-in Office Suite – It seems like a no brainer, doesn’t it? I’m not asking for a full-fledged office suite like Microsoft Office; I just want a few applications that can act as a word processor, spread sheet, and slide show. I would of-course expect they could read and write Microsoft Office file types as well. Now, let me reiterate, I don’t expect it to be the real deal that you pay 200 dollars for, rather just something that gets the job done.

Better Foreign Support – What I mean by this is that I wish Windows 7 would support a greater deal of Linux and Mac concepts (for lack of a better word), such as media filetypes like Ogg Vorbis in Windows Media Player, complete read/write support for file-systems in the ballpark of HFS, ext3, and Resier4, and finally Open Document support in any fitting applications they do choose to include, such as WordPad (if they include nothing else).

Built-in Virus Protection – Its common knowledge that Windows has a big piece of the Virus pie. Yet, it still does not have built-in protection for them. Not only would this make people feel safer to use it, it would also cut down on the cost of third party products.

LiveDVD Version – I really would like to see both a non-installable Windows 7 Live DVD that is offered for free as well as the standard installation DVD having the ability to boot it into a “Test drive” mode like you often can various Linux distributions.

Customizable Aero Effects – It would be much easier and more satisfactory for both my eyes and be fingers to be able to control what Aero effects are used and which ones aren’t. This would also make it possible to include a wider variety of effects.

Multiple Desktops – Its been around in Linux for ages, hasn’t it? Well, I would really like to see it in Windows as well. It is very convenient, makes it much easier to stay organized, and can be a great way to add extra screen real estate.

Custom Safemode – Well, perhaps its not something everybody would want, but I would like to have the ability to go into a safe mode that fits my needs strait from the boot screen. This includes different options regarding drivers, graphics, network support, and other things like that.

Web-like Password Recovery – It is not uncommon for me to change my passwords every so often, and after a while I forget the old ones. Now, I would obvious not forget my main computer’s password, however I have several other computers I use for testing that go dormant for months at a time. So, to not have to worry about this problem, I would like to be able to recover a forgotten password by answering a series of questions regarding myself.

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts – I tend to like to personalize my keyboard shortcuts to what I can remember best. However, with Windows everything is set in stone; you can’t change them, yet when I go into KDE I have no such problem.

Everywhere Spell Checker – I use a spell-checker for everything. However, it isn’t always available for everything. Well, why can’t it be? I think it would be much easier to have a built-in spell-checker whenever you have to enter text through a form.

IM Safety – The Internet is an unsafe place for kids now-a-days. I think it would definitely be beneficial to add an artificial intelligence to IM programs like Live Messenger to make sure that things aren’t getting dangerous. Perhaps this could take a while to code, however it would be greatly appreciated feature for many parents.

Better CD Burning – Finally, one thing that has caused me enormous trouble is the lack of CD Image burning in Windows. I would really like to be able to get a new computer, then immediately upon unpacking it burn Linux and dual-boot, though I suppose that might be what Microsoft doesn’t want me to do.

Edibility – Oh yeah, I would really like to be able to eat my computer when I’m done with it like Seinfeld does.

Sure, it’s the start of the year, and all the tech blogs are making their own predictions (that usually end up untrue) about what is going to happen this year. I decided that I ought to make my own predictions about what is going to happen in the future. I’m not going to predict what is going to happen in 2009, but instead 2099.

But instead of coming up with a flowchart or five-paragraph essay about my predictions, I present you with a fictional story.

“It’s worse than I feared. Get me the President.”

” Professor, the President?”

“Yes, get ME the PRESIDENT! DON’T YOU REALIZE WHAT IS AT STAKE HERE?”

“Sir, it seems a bit drastic to call the Pres–”

“WE NEED TO ACT NOW! YOU’VE BEEN IN THE BRIEFINGS! YOU KNOW THE DANGER WE ARE FACING!”

The student ran into a nearby tent and fetched a satellite phone. “Here you go, sir.”

The professor snatched the satellite phone from the student and stared at the phone’s touchscreen.

“P…R…E…Q–no-S!” muttered the professor while pecking at the keyboard on the touchscreen. “These iAwesomePhones touchscreen keyboards are so inaccurate! I wish they ran Linux!”

“Don’t they run Linux already?”

“No, but they will soon,” answered the professor as he continued pecking at the keyboard.

“Really? Why?” inquired the curious student.

“Oh, GooHat is forcing the world to use Ubuntu Paragon Penguin.”

“GooHat?”

“Didn’t you hear? Google and Red Hat had a merger. You kids should read the news more.”

“Right, but doesn’t Ubuntu belong to Novell after they bought out Canonical?”

“But then Red Hat bought out Novell.”

The satellite phone’s screen flickered, flashed the words “Incoming Call,” and a woman’s face appeared. “Ender, is it you?”

“No, Jane,” sighed the professor. “Wrong plot universe.” The woman disappeared off the screen, and the professor continued muttering and clacking away at the touchscreen. “E…N..T–enter.” The phone’s screen flickered again, and a man’s face appeared.

“It better be important!” barked the President.

“Oh, it is,” the professor spoke as he nodded gravely. “I have a student that has found a glyph of a cheeserburger.”

The President buried his face in his hands for a few seconds, then he dropped his hands to his sides and sighed. “Lolcats, right?”

The professor nodded gravely again and said, “Yes, the amazing quantity of these lolcats are likely to make exterminating them much more difficult.”

“But you know what will happen if we don’t get rid of these lolcats.”

“Yes, I know.” The professor sighed and nodded gravely for a third time. The student that had found the cheeseburger glyph looked dumbstruck.

TO BE CONTINUED